A to Z Challenge Survivor

Category Archives: Myths & Legends

For today’s Thursday Creation Review, I’m changing tacks again and sailing further into uncharted seas – variety and all that mirror stuff.

Anyway, one of my favourite authors – and one of my editors and writer-friends – is Sue Barnard. Ever since her first novel, The Ghostly Father, I’ve been an avid follower, reading all four of her novels released to date – all four or five star reads. Sue’s latest novel, Heathcliff: The Unanswered Questions Finally Answered?, is released on Monday, July 30th, so I will present the novel for your delectation.

First, an extended version of my original review of Sue’s last novel, Never on Saturday.

Leaving her native France and arriving in North Wales as a postgraduate student of History and Folklore, Mel is cautiously optimistic that she can escape from her troubled past and begin a new and happier life.

She settles into her student accommodation and begins work on her thesis, concentrating particularly on one fascinating manuscript: a compelling and tragic tale of a cursed medieval princess.

Then she meets Ray – charming, down-to-earth and devastatingly handsome. Within days, Mel’s entire world has transformed from lonely and frustrated to loving and fulfilled. Despite her failure with previous relationships, she allows herself to hope that this time, at last, she can make it work.

But Mel’s dreams of happiness are under constant threat. She is hiding a dark and terrible secret, which Ray – or indeed anybody else – must never ever discover…

Review 4.4 stars

I enjoyed this novel which once again showed Sue Barnard’s ability to write in different ‘genres’ – or perhaps that should be time-styles as this engrossing novella has a historical timeline and a present day one.

The two threads to this tales weave together – but saying ‘why’ would be a spoiler. I enjoyed the way they came together and sussed what was going on, or rather ‘who’, early on – even if I took a confusing operatic detour in my head.

Mel is an interesting character as is Ray but in a different way. I enjoyed the familiar North Wales setting and the brief language references. The folklore and historical elements never felt overdone and they were informative as they were thrown in as neat asides.

Never on Saturday is a fast and easy read with a neat ending, a well-crafted mix of styles and their respective settings. Plus, there are informative author notes at the end. Overall, I would recommend this novella.

Story – four stars

Setting/World-building – four stars

Authenticity – four stars

Characters – five stars

Structure – four stars

Readability – five stars

Editing – five stars

How the Story Came About:

Sue Barnard: “A few years ago I was on holiday in western France and came across a legend associated with the area I was visiting. Previously I’d been vaguely aware of the existence of this legend, but until then I’d known next to nothing about it.

A couple of weeks after I returned home, I was mowing the lawn when suddenly a line of dialogue popped into my head. Goodness only knows where it came from, but it proved to be the starting point for what would eventually become Never on Saturday.

The line was “My name isn’t [X], it’s [Y].” Unfortunately, I can’t be more specific here, because that would give away too much. But suffice it to say that [Y] is the name of the character featured in the old French legend.”

“An intriguing combination of myth and modern! I don’t like to give the story away to spoil it for future readers, but Sue has taken a myth and woven it into a magical love story. This story is easy to read and follow, even though it slips backwards and forwards in time. An act of revenge, a curse, a mythical creature, magic, and a rather attractive man goes into the mix to make a very entertaining story.”

“A must-read for fans of paranormal romance. A simple, modern-day love story is interwoven with an ancient French fairy-tale. I’m a sucker for folklore so I loved the old legend which I hadn’t come across before but even if you have you won’t know how this version will end.”

“A well-crafted, beautifully written little novella, which I devoured in one sitting. Like every book written by this author, a quality read which ticks all the boxes.”

Cathy’s immortal words from Wuthering Heights change Heathcliff’s life. At just seventeen years of age, heartbroken and penniless, he runs away to face an unknown future.

Three years later, he returns – much improved in manners, appearance and prosperity.

But what happened during those years? How could he have made his fortune, from nothing? Who might his parents have been? And what fate turned him into literature’s most famous anti-hero?

For almost two centuries, these questions have remained unanswered. Until now…

How the Story Came About

Sue Barnard: “It all began with a chance remark from a former schoolfriend: “Sue, I love the way you’ve based your book on what we did at school. What are you going to do next?”

“We were chatting just after the release of my third novel, The Unkindest Cut of All, which features a performance of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. This was the play we’d studied for English Literature O-Level (as it then was, back in the dark ages before GCSEs). The novel set for the same exam was Emily Brontë’s classic Wuthering Heights.

“Well,” I chuckled, “there’s always Heathcliff…”

“At the time, it was just a passing joke between two friends who recalled crying on each other’s shoulders as we’d struggled to make sense of the vagaries of the plot, tried (and mostly failed) to decipher Joseph’s incomprehensible dialect, and attempted to understand the book’s complicated inter-personal relationships. The latter was not made any easier by the characters’ confusing similarity of names. Emily Brontë had clearly never read the rule-book about this. Three of the characters have names beginning with the same initial, one of them has a first name which is the same as the surname of another, and two others have the same name entirely!

“But somehow, the idea just wouldn’t go away. I then recalled how our teacher (the wonderful Mrs Hall) explained how “…by having the story narrated by Nelly Dean, Emily Brontë avoids having to tell us exactly what happened to Heathcliff during those missing three years…”

“So – what might have happened to him? Could I try to get into his mind, and write a story which attempts to answer that question?”

“I had always wondered what happened to Heathcliff during those three years he was absent from the action of ‘Wuthering Heights’. What would change him from a passionate, unruly youth into a polished gentleman? And who were his parents?”

“Sue Barnard answers these questions (and more) in a way that makes total sense, as well as making a really exciting story in its own right. Painting vivid pictures of the culture of the time, Barnard shows us Heathcliff as he changes – and why. I loved the fact that her plot and his development made sense psychologically as well as culturally while fitting in seamlessly with the text of WH. I love WH so much that I would have worried about any additions, had not Barnard proved herself to be a safe pair of hands in her earlier books. Being a Cathy myself, I’ve always wanted more of Heathcliff – and I couldn’t have got him in a better form!”

“A great read! It is fascinating to discover the author’s take on one of literature’s great mysteries. Be sure to read the author’s note too.”

His first short story, “The Witcher” (“Wiedźmin”), also translated as “The Hexer” or “Spellmaker”, was published in Polish science fiction and fantasy magazine Fantastyka. By 2017, The Witcher series encompassed two collections of short stories (1992-1993) and five novels (1994-1999).

Geralt of Rivia is a witcher. A cunning sorcerer. A merciless assassin.

And a cold-blooded killer.

His sole purpose: to destroy the monsters that plague the world.

But not everything monstrous-looking is evil and not everything fair is good. . . and in every fairy tale there is a grain of truth.

The international hit that inspired the video game: The Witcher.

Review 5 stars

Although I read fantasy, I first encountered Geralt of Rivia in the video game, The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt and as I explored this gaming world, I was inspired to discover Andrzej Sapkowski’s books – starting with this first collection of short stories.

The last story in the book deservedly took third place in a magazine competition and sowed the first seed that created a universe. I enjoyed these original stories, discovering Geralt’s origins in pre-game events. (And these stories are echoed in-game.}

The collection is assembled to reflect the chronology of Geralt’s life, although we have yet to learn many things – and I look forward to reading more books. Sapkowski creates a brilliant and exemplary framing structure for these stories that gives them more impact – and adds to the unfolding plotlines that I know develop. (This is a writing technique that I need to learn.)

Some amazing and complex characters are introduced, including the sorceress, Yennefer, whose life is woven into a complicated relationship with Geralt that opens great possibilities. And then there is Dandelion, the bard whose tales and exploits are something else amusingly different. These are origin stories perhaps before the Witcher-universe had fully-formed, but the characters are relatable.

The tales are rooted in heroic deeds – even if Dandelion has a habit of re-telling them differently. The author demonstrates that he has been inspired by folklore. However, while the echoed fairy stories have a germ of truth, this is a grimmer tradition than Grimm, in a cutthroat environment. There are the Slavic monsters that a reader might expect but other mythologies play their part, adding to a rich tapestry.

The world rings with the realism of bloody steel and fangs, the smells of soiled streets and tempting food. The era doesn’t feel static, even across so few stories. The times are changing and so are the people. Evolving? Maybe not – but sowing many seeds. This is a medieval world of superstition and persecution – and torn apart by discrimination that resonates today. Witch-burnings are inevitable, and nothing is black-and-white. Not all monsters are obvious or what they seem.

Is my interpretation coloured by exploring the game-world? Perhaps, but these are the roots of the legend that is Geralt of Rivia. I look forward to discovering how the writing evolved, and how the world of The Witcher builds in later stories and novels. This was definitely the place to start on my quest to enjoy how Sapkowski grew from a very good writer into a master craftsman.

This year, #AtoZChallenge Bloggers are being asked to pick ONE post from our #AtoZChallenge 2018 offerings and link it up to share.

The Road Trip – #roadtrip – is where bloggers continue to visit each other from May thru March. So, for me, that will be a chance to visit more of the #AtoZChallenge posts that I missed, especially of those visitors who managed the full A-to-Z. I even found some amazing new sites to follow, notably: Song A Day, a great music blog that is expanding my musical tastes (and inspired my 2019 #AtoZChallenge theme).

Or why? Well, that had less to do with the average number of comments, and more to do with ongoing research into the world that has emerged from The Witcher series of fantasy novels by distinguished Polish fantasy author Andrzej Sapkowski.

There proved to be so much to explore, from a Slavic mythology and folklore tradition that I barely knew to a game that I had only just started – The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt. That game is my current escape, not least for the Gwent card-game within that fantasy world, but also for its excellent storytelling. As my Thursday Creation Review tomorrow will show, Sapkowski’s first collection of short stories, The Last Wish pulled me into the world of Geralt of Rivia and laid the world-building foundations, sowing seeds that resonate within the games.

Did you rate any of my posts as a favourite?

Are you sharing a favourite of your own on this #AtoZChallenge Road Trip?

Have you found any stand-out posts that we need to read?

If you are on the Road Trip then please be sure to include this phrase in your comments:

2018 was my fifth Blogging From A to Z Challenge and the aim of my theme was “to find the origins of online games, some relatively modern and some with ancient roots. Gaming might well be a modern take on an art that is almost timeless – storytelling” …

This was a perfect excuse for a writer to delve a little deeper, in some cases finding the myths and legends that had inspired a new generation of storytellers. I wasn’t surprised at how many had ‘ancient roots’, nor was I surprised that there were universal themes arising.

However, I was intrigued how many cultures were represented as I expected most games had Celtic, Norse, Japanese or Chinese roots. Okay, I half-expected Korean mythology to work in somewhere as South Korea has a large games industry. The surprise was (a) the cross-fertilization between cultures – see Z is for Zelda; (b) the use of less prominent mythologies – see W is for Witcher.

I was pleased that most of the posts inspired comments, even a little debate. However, I was amazed that J is for Jumanji, K is for King Arthur and T is for Tomb Raider received none – especially when R is for Resident Evil received six comments, excluding my replies. (I replied to every comment.) Was that because Resident Evil is the most successful game-to-movie adaptation? Or was it because King Arthur has been overdone in everything from legend to Hollywood blockbuster?

Maybe I spent too much time trying to get the posts out. I admit that I didn’t visit many A-to-Z bloggers beyond the ones that I follow regularly – I have a lot of catching-up to – in the Road Trip. (The Road Trip is where bloggers continue to visit each other from May thru March.)

However, as well as my posts linking with my Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin accounts, I did manage to add my post-address to the Daily Lists as well to my comments on other sites. Towards the end of the Challenge, I was writing the following day’s post with a few hours to spare – and I consistently forgot the #AtoZchallenge hashtag, except on my Theme post.

My frantic approach was partly because I hadn’t even remembered to sign-up until mid-March. That began some in-depth research which included some ‘product testing’. I need to give myself time in future if I am going to reduce the pressure and visit more sites.

Looking ahead to the Road Trip is coming on May 23, I’m trying to decide which was my favourite post and why. Will the writing-related research or the gaming-experience lift the award?

The aim of my Blogging From A to Z Challenge is to find the origins of online games, some relatively modern and some with ancient roots. Gaming might well be a modern take on an art that is almost timeless – storytelling. A perfect excuse for a writer to delve a little deeper.

What other game character can end this challenge than the Princess of gaming herself?

Game:The Legend of Zeldais a high-fantasy action-adventure video game series created by Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. Each game in The Legend of Zelda series tells an important part of the history of Hyrule. The Japanese version of the game on the Famicom is known as The Hyrule Fantasy: The Legend of Zelda.

Genre/gameplay mechanics: The series’ gameplay incorporates elements of action, adventure, battle-gameplay, exploration and puzzle-solving games. These elements have remained constant throughout the series, but with refinements and additions in each new game. Later games include stealth gameplay. The role-playing elements, however, have led to much debate over whether the Zelda games should be classified as action role-playing games, a genre on which the series has had a strong influence. The games pioneered several features that were to become industry standards. The original Legend of Zelda was the first console game with a save function that enabled players to stop playing and then resume later. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time introduced a targeting system that simplified 3D combat.

Setting:The Legend of Zelda takes place predominantly in a medieval Western Europe inspired fantasy land called Hyrule which has developed a deep history and wide geography over the series’ many releases. Hyrule’s principal inhabitants are pointy-eared humanoids called Hylians, which include the player character, Link, and the eponymous princess, Zelda. Some games take place in different lands with their own back-stories. Termina and Lorule serve as parallel worlds to Hyrule, Hytopia is a connected kingdom, and Koholint is an island far away from Hyrule that appears to be part of a dream.

Storytelling: The series centres on Link, the chief protagonist, and the timeless battles between good and evil. Link is often given the task of rescuing Princess Zelda and the kingdom of Hyrule from Ganon, who is the principal antagonist of the series; however, other settings and antagonists have appeared in several games. The plots commonly involve a relic known as the Triforce, a set of three omnipotent golden triangles. The protagonist in each game is usually not the same incarnation of Link, but a few exceptions exist.

Releases + Expansions: Since the original The Legend of Zelda was released in 1986, the series has expanded to include 19 entries on all of Nintendo’s major game consoles, as well as a number of spin-offs.

IGN and GamesRadar selected their Top Ten Zelda games in 2016 and 2017 respectively, while the top three from aggregated scores for all the games on Metacritic in 2017 were:

99 – The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – (November 21, 1998) – Metacritic’s highest-rated Zelda game, ever. “It’s no surprise why: Not only was the game the first in the series with 3D graphics and time travel, the 256-megabit Ocarina of Time was the largest game ever produced by Nintendo at the time. Over 7.6 million copies have been sold worldwide.” As GamesRadar said, “It popularized so many techniques that are ingrained in 3D gameplay – Z-targeting, camera control, world layout – that it’s easy to take for granted, particularly when later Zelda titles improved on them so well.”

97 – The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – (March 3, 2017) – The newest entry in the Zelda franchise, IGN’s Jose Otero said, “is a masterclass in open-world design and a watershed game that reinvents a 30-year-old franchise.” According to GameSpot’s Peter Brown, “there’s so much to see, to accomplish and to learn that you never feel like you have control over the world. This is a great thing.” GamesRadar said, “It’s, in a word, breath-taking, and it marks a rebirth for The Legend of Zelda that sent shockwaves through the entire industry.”

96 – The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker – (December 13, 2002) – “Set in a vast sea dotted with small islands long after the events of Ocarina of Time, The Wind Waker charges a cel-shaded Link with rescuing his sister, solving the mystery of the flooded world and again defeating the menacing Ganon.” Zach Ryan of IGN said, “This version of Link is so expressive and charming that it’s hard not to love him right from the outset. It refined everything that made Ocarina an instant classic to near perfection.”

The 1980s – Hearing of American novelist Scott Fitzgerald‘s wife Zelda, co-designer Shigeru Miyamoto thought the name sounded “pleasant and significant”. Paying tribute, he chose to name the princess after her, and titled it The Legend of Zelda.

The 1950s – principally inspired by Miyamoto’s “explorations” as a young boy in the hillsides, forests, and caves surrounding his childhood home in Sonobe, Japan where he ventured into forests with secluded lakes, caves, and rural villages. According to Miyamoto, one of his most memorable experiences was the discovery of a cave entrance in the middle of the woods. After some hesitation, he apprehensively entered the cave, and explored its depths with the aid of a lantern. Miyamoto has referred to the creation of the Zelda games as an attempt to bring to life a “miniature garden” for players to play with in each game of the series.

12th–13th centuries – The Master Sword was inspired by Excalibur in the Arthurian legend, first mentioned in Welsh mythology, as in the Mabinogion as; ‘Caledfwlch’ . The similarities lay with the swords being kept in stone until the chosen one, the ‘hero’ takes it out to save the land. It’s fascinating when a Japanese cultural icon like The Legend of Zelda has a root in one of the British Isle’s oldest legends – one that creeps into works like The Lord of the Rings, as well as King Arthur. Myths and legends echo each other and the human condition, so why not in video games.

COMICS – individual manga adaptationscommissioned by Nintendo have been produced in Japan since 1997, and are now being released in English.

Recommendation: The Legend of Zelda is one of Nintendo’s most prominent and successful franchises, selling over 80 million copies as of 2017. Many of its titles are considered by critics and fans alike to be among the greatest video games of all time. The Legend of Zelda series has received outstanding levels of acclaim from critics and the public. Ocarina of Time, The Wind Waker, Skyward Sword, and Breath of the Wild have each received a perfect 40/40 score (10/10 by four reviewers) by Japanese Famitsu magazine, making Zelda one of the few series with multiple perfect scores. Ocarina of Time was even listed by Guinness World Records as the highest-rated video game in history, citing its Metacritic score of 99 out of 100. In Nintendo Power‘s Top 200 countdown in 2004, Ocarina of Time took first place, and seven other Zelda games placed in the top 40. There is a devoted and extensive community behind the games.

Alternative ‘Z’ thoughts:

Z is also for the weirdly watchable 1974 Boorman movie Zardoz with Sean Connery, almost mentioned in my O post, where I said, “O is also for Oz, as in the L Frank Baum’s wonderful book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz…There were numerous adaptations, including games, but none that sparked my research brain – despite Baum’s origins.”

For those that don’t make the connection, the Baum book is the source of the name ‘-zard [of] oz’.

The aim of my Blogging From A to Z Challenge is to find the origins of online games, some relatively modern and some with ancient roots. Gaming might well be a modern take on an art that is almost timeless – storytelling. A perfect excuse for a writer to delve a little deeper.

Genre/gameplay mechanics: Players can choose up to four characters to use at once from a larger roster of fifteen+. Players unlock additional characters as they proceed through the game. Four players can play on one machine cooperatively, and players can join or leave at any time. Online play for up to four players, a first for the series. As characters gain experience points their mutant superpowers and unique abilities can be upgraded. Items found during gameplay can also be equipped to further enhance a character’s abilities.

Setting:X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse is not set in any particular Marvel Comics universe. The game takes place sometime after the events of X-Men Legends. Locations include a military prison in Greenland, the fictional mutant sanctuary of Genosha, the Savage Land and Egypt.

Storytelling: It unites two Marvel Comics superhero teams, the heroic X-Men and the villainous Brotherhood of Mutants as they together face the mutant supervillain Apocalypse and his minions. Apocalypse, having witnessed the X-Men’s defeat of Magneto remotely, declares that the Age of Apocalypse is nigh. Prior to the game’s campaign, he kidnaps Professor X and Polaris for unknown purposes. The game begins with the X-Men and Brotherhood of Mutants uniting forces to save Professor X and Polaris.

2004 – X-Men Legends follows Alison Crestmere, a young mutant who has the ability to summon and control volcanic activity. As Alison is taught to control her powers at the X-Mansion, the X-Men are sent on several missions. Eventually, the X-Men learn of Magneto‘s plan to cover the Earth in darkness from his base on Asteroid M.

The 1930s (& earlier)-present – Explicitly referenced in recent decades is the comparison between anti-mutant sentiment and various discriminations, including anti-Semitism. Magneto, a Holocaust survivor, sees the situation of mutants as similar to those of Jews in Nazi Germany. Some regular characters are from other discriminated groups.

Films – Rotten Tomatoes gave 93% to Logan (2017) saying, “Third time’s the charm. After whiffing on their first opportunity to give Wolverine a compelling solo outing with the calamitous Origins, then inching a little closer to snikt-worthy cinema with The Wolverine, Fox finally gave fans a properly grim and gritty third instalment.” In his top ten, TheWrap’s film critic Alonso Duralde ranked X2: X-Men United (2003) top [85% Rotten Tomatoes], saying, “Still arguably one of the best superhero films ever made, this entry enjoys all the second-time-around benefits of any franchise where the first movie had to lay all the groundwork and tell all the origin stories.” Nine of Slashfilm’s crew matched these ratings, putting Logan just ahead of X2.

TV Shows – after thirteen animated series, the expanding X-Men universe has added the two current live-action TV series, FX’s The Legion (2017-) and Fox’s The Gifted (2017-) directed by Bryan Singer. Which is better depends, as does whether they exist in the same universe as the movies.

Recommendation: The game was well received by gaming critics on all platforms. All platforms hold aggregate scores in the 80–85% range at aggregate review websites GameRankings and Metacritic. Critics felt that the inclusion of online play, additional mutant powers, and a larger cast made the game an improvement over its predecessor. Some reviewers were critical of the game’s voice acting and felt that the gameplay was repetitive. It sold enough copies to be added to the budget line known as PlayStation 2’s Greatest Hits.

As Hardcore Gamer said in its review of the top-five X-Men games, “Possibly the precursor to the Ultimate Alliance game, X-Men: Legends and X-Men: Legends II were two of the greatest superhero games to come out on the PS2…. The best was levelling up your powers as you went along, allowing your mutant powers to get even more powerful during the course of the games.”